ClutchPoints
In four seasons as the starting quarterback of the Los Angeles Rams, Matthew Stafford has accumulated a 34-23 record while leading the Rams to a Super Bowl title in 2022. For his career he’s 191 yards shy of 60,000 passing yards only 23 touchdowns away from becoming the 9th quarterback in league history with 400 passing touchdowns, but if you’ve read the tea leaves recently, it’s sounded like his remarkable 16-year career could soon be coming to an end. Or at the very least, Stafford’s time with the Rams may be up.
Well, it appears as if those tea leaves are slightly outdated, because on Saturday morning, a pair of NFL insiders discussed what could be ahead of Stafford and the Rams this offseason, and it’s beginning to sound like the future Hall of Famer could be returning to Los Angeles for the 2025 season.
“Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is likely to return to L.A. in 2025,” writes Dan Graziano of ESPN.com “The past two seasons have been good for Stafford, who turned 37 on Friday and believes the Rams’ leadership gives them the ability to contend every year.”
However, it doesn’t seem as though Stafford’s return to Los Angeles is so cut and dry. Graziano notes that Stafford’s cap hit for 2025 is in the range of $50 million, and that could lead the Rams to convert his salary into bonuses, just as they did last year, in order to “move Stafford’s 2025 compensation into a range more befitting of a good starting NFL quarterback,” which is to say that Stafford is no longer on the highest tier of the league’s quarterbacks.
If contract discussions do break down though, there will likely be suitors around the league who are interested in attempting to pry Stafford away from the Rams. But that doesn’t mean Stafford is necessarily looking to look.
“By all accounts, Stafford was happy with the direction of the offense this season, and multiple people with the team say it doesn’t seem as if changes are coming,” ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler states. “But other teams will inevitably call the Rams to gauge trade interest anyway. Stafford will be the top quarterback available if Los Angeles entertains the idea of moving him.”
Teams such as the Raiders, Titans, Giants, Browns, Saints and Jets could all have securing a new starting quarterback at the top of their respective offseason wishlists.
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